


The Queen's Price

by Ellynne



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22251982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellynne/pseuds/Ellynne
Summary: When Regina sent Jefferson and his wife to bring back an amulet from Wonderland, he had no idea what the true cost would be.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Mad Hatter | Jefferson/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	The Queen's Price

They were running through the maze, the guards close behind them, when Alix stumbled, a cross bolt sticking from her side. Jefferson grabbed her arm, putting it over his shoulder and kept going, trying to ignore how each step cost her as he forced her along. 

“We’re almost there,” he told her, not looking back to see how close the guards were. “Hold on just a bit longer.” He could hear the crossbows letting loose another volley. He dived low, knowing there was no chance of being missed at this distance, and—

—They were through the doorway. 

Alix’ legs buckled as they entered the between place. Gently, trying not to panic, Jefferson lowered her to the floor. She was too pale, no color even in her lips. He examined her wound, fighting the urge to rip out the arrow and throw it as far away as possible, knowing that would just make it worse. He pulled out a knife, cutting her blouse away from the arrow so he could get a better look. The bleeding had stopped.

 _That doesn’t mean anything,_ he told himself. It had bled badly enough while they were running. But, now they were still, now the arrow wasn’t tearing away inside of her with each step, it was actually staunching the wound. That was it. That had to be it.

He put his hand to her throat, fumbling for a pulse. “Alix, can you hear me? Say something, sweetheart. . . .” Unconscious. She was just unconscious. She had to be. Unconscious wasn’t the same as death.

He gathered her up, trying not to move the arrow, and ran for the door back into his world. It opened up on cold, gray stone. Mirrors lined one side of the room, arched windows the other. The only light was from the evening sun.

“Regina!” he screamed. “Regina! Help me!”

“Oh, no,” one of the mirrors drawled. “That doesn’t look good at all.”

“Quiet, you,” Regina said, walking languidly into the room. She wore one of her court dresses, a mix of black velvet, leather, and glittering gems. “It took you long enough,” she told Jefferson. “What took you?”

Then, she took in Jefferson’s expression, mad with panic, and saw Alix lying still in his arms. “Ah, I see.” The queen strode over. “Put her down. I need to examine her.”

There was no furniture in the room, so Jefferson put her gently on the jewel hued carpet. Regina winced as Alix’ bloodstained form touched the exquisite silk. He moved aside, giving Regina room to work, but held tight to Alix’ hand. 

Regina rolled her eyes. “Stand back,” she said. “You’re only in my way.”

Kneeling down by Alix side, she made a small gesture with her hand. The arrow vanished in a puff of black smoke. No blood came out of the wound ( _It doesn’t mean anything,_ Jefferson told himself, knowing that, if Alix’ heart were still beating, the blood would come gushing out. _The wound’s been blocked. It doesn’t mean anything_ ). Regina negligently waved her fingers, and the gaping hole closed. But, Alix didn’t move. Frowning, the queen tried another spell, then another. She placed two fingers against Alix’ forehead, murmuring something under her breath. When that did nothing, she touched her over the heart. Jefferson stiffened a moment, knowing what all too often happened when the Evil Queen touched anyone there. 

But, the queen didn’t pull out a red, pulsing gem. Instead, she leaned back. “I’m sorry,” she said coolly. “There’s nothing I can do. She’s gone.”

A sound broke out of Jefferson, like a wounded animal. “No,” he groaned. “No, not like this. She can’t—the Dark One. He could—”

Regina flinched when he mentioned her old teacher. Forcing herself to sound calm, even gentle, she said, “Dead is dead, Jefferson. You were the one who taught me that. It’s one of the laws even he can’t break.”

Jefferson remembered how he’d “taught” Regina that, how he’d brought her a doctor from a strange, colorless world who’d failed to bring back her lover. The queen might kill him if she ever knew the details of that deal. But, she was right. Suddenly, he felt cold and empty. Dead was dead. Even magic couldn’t change that.

Regina reached out and touched Alix’ forehead again. A shimmer of silver washed over her for a moment and was gone. “Preservation spell,” Regina said. “There are decisions you need to make, but those can wait. Please, come outside for now.”

Jefferson didn’t protest as she led him out. “Our daughter,” he said. “How can I tell her her mother’s gone? How. . . ?” He trailed off. He was like a man standing at the edge of a bottomless cliff with no place to go but forward. How did he face any of this?

“You need to be strong for her, Jefferson,” Regina said. “A good father can do whatever he has to for his daughter.”

Jefferson nodded numbly. Grace. He had to take care of Grace. 

Her mother was dead and it was his fault. Alix had warned him against taking this job. He’d been the one who insisted. One last, beautiful hurrah, a perfect scam that would be remembered for ages. And money—oh, yes, money. She’d told him how it would end and she’d been right.

“Jefferson, please, I have to know, did you get it?”

He stared at her, trying to make sense of her words. 

“The amulet,” Regina said patiently. “Did you get the amulet?”

Amulet. Jefferson reached into his pocket. He felt something hard and cold. He pulled it out, a glittering triangle made from black hematite. A single eye was carved into the center set with a single, frost colored stone in the center, moonstone, perhaps, or cheap glass. It stared blindly at him. This was what he’d traded Alix’ life for.

He held it out to Regina. She smiled like a cat about to snatch up her prey but didn’t touch it. “We need to put it in place. Now.”

He tried to hand it to her, but Regina shook her head, stepping back. “No, it needs to be you. You’re the one who brought it here. The charm won’t work if it’s not you.”

Jefferson wanted to fling it at her, to toss it down the garderobe, to throw it on the stone floor and grind it under his heel. But, arguing, fighting, marching out in a cold fury, he didn’t have the energy for it. Even taking a few steps to follow where Regina led seemed more than he could bear. It was only because refusing her and trying to walk away would take even more effort that he stumbled along after her.

And because of Grace. If he upset the queen, she knew where to find Grace.

She led him up to a tower. _Trying to be like Rumplestiltskin?_ Jefferson thought. The snide words echoed in his mind, empty, meaningless. He didn’t say them. But, there was a dark jealousy in Regina. It ate away at her that, no matter how powerful she became, she would never be as powerful—or as feared—as her old master. Of course, she had to have a tower workroom just like his, even if the whole point of this was for the Dark One to never know it was here.

The Blinded Eye, that was the name of the amulet, a charm that would hide Regina’s little study from the most powerful spells trying to get a look inside. Although, Jefferson supposed Rumplestiltskin would find a way around it as soon as he knew what Regina had done. Assuming he cared. 

He probably wouldn’t. Then, Regina, like the spoiled child she was, would make some other play for attention. Rumplestiltskin didn’t care about how clever she’d been to keep him from spying on her? Fine, she’d gloat about to his face her clever plans and how she’d hidden them from him. The old wizard would tell Jefferson all about it next time he saw him, Jefferson would tell Alix when he got home, and they’d share a good laugh.

Except they wouldn’t. Because, Alix was dead. Her body was somewhere below them, frozen in time by Regina’s magic.

The workroom had a thick, iron door covered in spellmarks. “Here,” Regina said, pointing to a spot in the center. “Place it here and activate it.”

Once this was done, Regina would leave him alone, and he could collapse and stop fighting this emptiness inside him. Jefferson pushed the amulet against the door and recited the small charm written on it.

Alix was the linguist. She understood the old languages spells were written in though she didn’t have a spark of magic. All Jefferson knew were a few, important words and phrases (“Warning!” “Danger!”). But, Alix had taught him enough he could pronounce this properly. She’d also told him what it said, _Let the seeing not see_.

For a moment, the frosted eye turned black and seemed to stare directly into. The hematite glowed white, brighter than molten steel. The light blazed out in fiery lines across the marks on the door as the spell activated.

Then, the darkness drained out of the eye. It clouded over, dull and white. The hematite dimmed to black while the spellmarks faded away. The metal of the door turned soft, like thick mud, and the amulet sank into it, vanishing.

“There,” he said wearily. “It’s done.” And, now, he could go. If he could only find the energy to turn and walk back down all those stairs to where Alix’ body was waiting for him.

“Wait,” said Regina, looking far too pleased. “Let me show you what you’ve done.”

Something, the words, her smug expression, stung. Anger briefly blazed to life. “I know what I’ve done,” Jefferson snapped. “Your workroom is safe. The Dark One won’t be spying on you. Congratulations. Now, let me go.”

“My workroom? Is that what you thought this was?” Regina laughed. She had to gloat. She _always_ had to gloat. “Look inside and see what you’ve done.”

He was tempted not to. But, his anger was already dying away, and he knew better. She’d been amused by his rebellion once. She might not be again.

There was a small, metal plate on the door. He’d barely noticed it. But, it could be lifted for someone wanting to see what was on the other side of the door—to look in, Jefferson realized, not out. Why? Were her lackeys supposed to check before knocking to see if interrupting her was safe? Regina didn’t think that way. Lackeys made their best guess and lived or died on the results. 

The plate was there so Regina could look in. This wasn’t a workroom. It was a cell.

And . . . this spell was meant to keep Rumplestiltskin out. Or that’s what Jefferson had thought. Who else was there? The Blue Fairy? The Queen of Hearts? Some other witch or wizard?

Who did Regina hate enough to go to this much trouble? Her stepdaughter, Snow White? If Regina ever captured her, the execution would be painful, swift, and very public. Who else was there? He lifted the plate and saw the last thing he ever expected to see.

Jefferson staggered back, staring at Regina. She laughed at his horror. “You recognize her, then?”

“How?”

Regina shrugged. “It’s not my fault the imp can’t be more careful with his toys. He left her where anyone could have stumbled over her. He should be grateful to me for finding her and taking care of her.”

“Grateful. Is that what you’re going to tell him?” 

Another shrug. “Perhaps. Someday. When I’m ready.” She smiled sweetly at him. “You’re not thinking of telling him yourself, are you, Jefferson?”

“I. . . .” Jefferson closed his mouth. There wasn’t any safe answer. If he said yes, Regina would kill him before he’d gone two steps. But, Rumplestiltskin—Rumplestiltskin could make him regret for all eternity if he found out Jefferson had known about this and hadn’t told him. Assuming he lived that long. Which he wouldn’t. Although, it might feel that way by the time the imp was done with him.

“Because, we both know how good a sorcerer the Dark One is, don’t we? Do you really think he won’t know about your part in this if he finds out?”

“My part?”

“You locked her in, Jefferson. You fetched the amulet and you’re the one who activated it. Believe me, he’ll know it was you.” Because, Regina would make sure to tell him if he didn’t figure it out for himself.

“The spell was only cast a minute ago,” Jefferson said, grasping at straws. Would Rumplestiltskin be able to tell how long that charm had been on the room? Would he care?

“But, she’s been here several days,” Regina said. “And I hired you, what? Three days ago? We discussed business in a very crowded tavern, too. Do you really believe he won’t have heard rumors by now?”

The tavern. Jefferson had thought Regina was just being her idea of sneaky and clandestine and doing a terrible job of it. He’d quietly laughed at her for thinking the story of the queen in a common pub wouldn’t be over half the kingdom before a fortnight passed.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you, some people shouldn’t be careless. They also shouldn’t be so difficult when all I ask is a simple favor.”

“Why do this _to me?_ ”

“Why not? I could have set up charms myself to keep attention away—” (No, she couldn’t. Rumplestiltskin had taught her everything she knew. There wasn’t a spell she could cast that Rumplestiltskin couldn’t see past) “—but this was much neater. And, if anything goes wrong. . . .” The words trailed off and she smiled at him.

“I’m the one he’ll come after.”

“You. Or that daughter of yours.”

Jefferson froze, a dozen, half-formed plans about how he might turn this back on Regina crumbling. “He doesn’t hurt children.”

“Hurt them? No. Take them away? All the time.”

“He wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t he? Have you ever seen him when he’s truly angry? Do you really know what he wouldn’t do?”

Grace. Alix was dead, and now Grace—

“I can trust you to be sensible about this, can’t I, Jefferson?”

Mutely, Jefferson nodded.

X

Jefferson had seen Rumplestiltskin once since then. The imp had come to speak with him briefly after the funeral. Later, Jefferson would realize how worn and tired he must have looked. At the time, Jefferson could only think of Alix, and Grace, and what would happen to all of them if the Dark One found the secret lurking behind his gaze.

He should have told him. It hadn’t been long, then. There’d been something like sympathy in the imp’s eyes. If Jefferson had blurted out the truth, the imp might have believed him. Instead, Jefferson only said he was done, that he wouldn’t be using his hat ever again. Rumplestiltskin wasn’t Regina. He nodded somberly, accepting Jefferson’s declaration, and started to leave.

Then he saw Grace, standing pale and silent. His reptile eyes stayed on the girl. Jefferson stopped breathing. It was only a moment or two, not the eternity Jefferson would have sworn it lasted. Then, the old wizard looked away.

“If you need anything—or if you change your mind—”

“You’ll make a deal?” Jefferson said harshly.

Rumplestiltskin flinched. Except, that was impossible. As well believe Regina was opening a home for orphans. 

Rumplestiltskin gave him a flash of teeth. Smile, snarl, or something else entirely. The—grief? Sorrow? Whatever it had been vanished. “Of course,” he said and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

And the moment was past.

By the time he knew he should have grabbed it, Regina, regretting loose ends, had left him to the Queen of Hearts tender mercy. He’d suffered under it till the day a wave of black mist found him. When it passed, he was trapped in a new and even more terrible insanity, his daughter in sight but always out of reach.

Till the day Regina decided she needed him after all. The ending should not have surprised him.

_I’m done with you._

Thirty years of anger boiled over in Jefferson. He remembered Alix dying and Regina caring more about the blood on her floor. He remembered the queen dragging him away from his wife’s body, still in shock over what had happened, not believing she could be dead.

In that moment, he was coldly certain that, if Regina hadn’t needed to make him a target for Rumplestiltskin’s wrath, she wouldn’t have even done that. He and Alix would have been thrown out with the trash.

It was what she’d done in the end, tossing him like a bloody bone to her sadistic mother. The red welts around his neck weren’t the only ones Cora had left him with. She’d had even less patience than her child and was so much more creative in making her displeasure known.

_If you truly cared for your daughter, you never would have left her in the first place._

Regina was the reason Jefferson lost Grace. Twice, she’d torn them apart, trapping him in Wonderland and again in Storybrooke. She crushed lives the way little boys crushed ants, because it amused her. The Cora’s guards had been closing closed in on them, but she’d still paused in her escape to tell him everything she was taking away from him was _his_ fault before sauntering away and leaving him to his fate.

Jefferson knew what happened to Regina’s toys when she was done playing with them. He knew it was no coincidence Graham had died when he finally broke free from her leash.

Though not his choice, the Huntsman had still served her loyally for decades, and that was his reward. Jefferson wasn’t even that, a hired lackey and chancy ally.

Regina was done with him.

Grace—Grace was even less than he was. 

Regina had murdered children before and for far less reason. She’d slaughtered entire villages out of pique. She wouldn’t spare Grace.

But, this time, Jefferson would stop her.

Shaking with rage, he said, “But I’m—I’m not done with you.”

Regina laughed. “What are you going to do? Kill me? I know you want to, but I also know you can’t.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. You don’t have it in you.”

She was wrong. It was all he could do to keep from wringing her neck, to take her by the throat and choke the life out of her.

It wouldn’t work. Jefferson was a thief. He knew how easily a small misstep could ruin everything. That was how Alix died.

He needed a better plan. The sheriff was right outside, waiting for her. Doctors, nurses, and a very grumpy dwarf who worked as a hospital janitor were in the hall. Regina might be too smug to believe he would do it till he had her neck in his hands, but, all it would take was a single scream, the sound of a lamp or medical equipment toppling over as she fought back, and they would all come running. And, then, they would drag Jefferson away to jail or to the dungeon hidden away beneath the hospital floors.

Her dungeon.

That was when he knew what to do. Trapped in his mansion, with nothing to do but watch, Jefferson had unburied nearly all the Queen’s secrets in this world, including that one. 

He hadn’t dared do anything before. Even in this world, even under the curse, Gold’s wrath was as terrible as Rumplestiltskin’s, and he knew lies when he heard them. Even if her believed Regina had tricked Jefferson, he’d know he’d let Rumplestiltskin go on believing Belle was dead.

Now, he didn’t care. Nothing mattered except stopping Regina before she could hurt Grace again. 

And, if Rumplestiltskin made her pay for everything she had done, that was just a bonus.

Finding the cell was easy. The nurse didn’t even question his being there. He knew the code to open the door, didn’t he? And, in twenty-eight years, who had come here who wasn’t supposed to?

He didn’t kill her, only drugged her before taking her keys. Whether that was merciful or not depended on what Regina did when she found out.

Finding the cell was easy. The door looked almost exactly the same as it had in the other world. He opened it and gave her one, simple message to deliver. Gold would believe it because she believed it—and because it was true.

_Regina locked me up._

He watched long enough to make sure Belle found her way. Then, he turned around and got as far away as he could.

Regina had taken the one person in their world Rumplestiltskin loved. She had made sure the old wizard believed she was dead and that it was his fault when it was hers all along.

Her fault. For Belle. For Alix. 

For Grace.

Soon, Rumplestiltskin would feel the same fury that was filling Jefferson, passed from man to another like a disease. And he would do exactly what Jefferson had done: Make the queen pay.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd always wondered why Jefferson didn't take Belle to Gold himself or why he didn't free her sooner. The only answer I could think of was that he was afraid to.


End file.
